Twas The Night Before Endless Christmas
by JesusFreakft
Summary: Some of the Alice Academy students meet the Doctor and help him and Rory stop space pirates intent on making Christmas-and winter-last forever. Story takes place between "The Almost People" and "A Good Man Goes to War".
1. The Man in the Blue Box

The Man in the Blue Box

Mikan Sakura looked out through panes of glass at the snowflakes that dropped from the dark sky toward the white ground below. The flakes fell leisurely past the window, drifting sometimes one way and sometimes another before finally coming gently to rest on the smooth wintery carpet that had formed below.

"Mikan, stop steaming up the window."

That was Hotaru. Mikan would have protested if the window had been her own, but they were both in Hotaru's room so the girl complied and turned from the window, her brown pigtails swinging on either side of the broad grin plastered on her face.

"Oh, Hotaru!" she exclaimed, spinning happily on her tiptoes. "The snow is so beautiful!" She stopped and clasped her hands together. "I love winter!"

Hotaru said nothing from the white humanoid creation she sat working on. With her Invention Alice, Mikan's best friend was very good at making mechanical wonders to suit her purpose; and she had done so many times in the past, resulting in many such creations.

"I cannot wait for tomorrow to come!" Mikan continued, undaunted. "We can go sledding and make snow angels and have a snowball fight and make snowmen and snowforts..." She paused for breath and a tool clanked to the floor from Hotaru's hand. "After we go to classes," Mikan said with a little less enthusiasm.

"The snow won't go anywhere," Hotaru stated calmly.

"I know," Mikan conceded. "But why do they make us wait? I do not want to wait! We always have classes, but it does not always snow! I remember when it snowed years ago and you and I built the talking snowman!"

Something like a smile flickered across Hotaru's face before vanishing. "Our teacher did not like it," she remembered.

"We revived her with a cup of Grandfather's hot cocoa," Mikan smiled. "Then she killed the snowman. I think she thought it was possessed..."

Several small pieces of metal fell to the ground in front of Hotaru. The girl's short black hair fell barely over her eyes as she fastened a piece to the white torso of the mechanical creature before her.

"I just cannot wait for tomorrow, Hotaru!" Mikan exclaimed, squeezing her fists together over her heart with excitement. "I wish that we could go out in the beautiful snow now. It looks so pretty at night! And soon it will be Christmas!" She squealed with delight at the prospect. "Christmas decorations, Christmas clothes, Christmas food, Christmas everywhere! Soon we will be..." She stopped her words. "Hotaru, do you hear something?"

"Yes, I hear you rambling."

"No, not me!" Mikan retorted. "Listen!"

Hotaru halted her work and glanced up, listening for the sound of which Mikan spoke. After a few moments she heard it too.

"It sounds like the war cry a very large bird," she commented. "It's probably fierce."

"Is there a very large, probably-fierce bird at Alice Academy?" Mikan asked with saucer eyes.

"I don't think so," Hotaru told her. "But there may be."

Mikan walked back to the window and looked out into the darkness. The snow still dropped on the other side of the glass, but aside from that all was still.

Then the sky split open and a tall blue box sailed through it, increasing the volume of the strange noise. Mikan squeaked with surprise as the box spun through the air toward them, lurching from side to side erratically and descending rapidly.

"What is it?" Mikan breathed.

Hotaru didn't reply.

The blue box coasted lower and met the snowy ground, landing hard and sliding closer to the Elementary School Dorm on the frozen covering before it slowed and tipped over onto its side, coming finally to a halt.

"There are windows," Hotaru said, as calm as ever.

Mikan looked and saw that she was right: along the top-or what would be the top if the box were upright-ran windows, two per side.

"Do you think anyone is in it?" she whispered with still-wide eyes. "Hotaru?"

The door clicked open behind her and Mikan turned in time to see the last of Hotaru disappear through it, her scarf trailing immediately behind her.

"Hotaru, wait!" Mikan called, racing also toward the door. She grabbed her own coat and scarf on the way and ran down the hall after her friend.

The hour was late and the two did not encounter any other students as they made their way to the ground floor and ran outside, where they were met by the wintry night air.

Mikan shivered and swung one end of her scarf over her shoulder as she hurried forward after Hotaru toward the blue box that lie on the snowy ground.

They reached it and Hotaru began without hesitation to inspect it closely.

"Be careful, Hotaru!" Mikan begged, wondering what the box was and if it was at all safe.

The blue box was long enough that if Mikan had lain with her feet at the bottom she could not have reached the top with her hands, and it was wide enough that she and Hotaru could have lain lengthwise beside each other with room to spare on either side. At what was normally the top of the box, above the windows on each visible side, was a sign that read "POLICE BOX" in white letters in English.

Hotaru passed between Mikan and the box and then around to the other side, looking with interest.

On one side of the box-which was the top at present-was another sign, this one white, but Mikan did not venture close enough to read what it said.

The snowflakes still fell, landing on the ground, the blue box, and the two girls near the latter.

Suddenly half of the wall currently on top flew open, scaring both girls silly; Hotaru jumped backward away from it while Mikan let loose a high-pitched cry of alarm.

For a moment nothing happened, then a man poked his face up through the opening and looked around. He had a tall face and smartly-styled brown hair on top of it. The boyish smile on his face combined with the crazed glint in his eye to create an unsettling, ruffling effect.

He drew up his arms and braced them on the box, bringing first one foot up and then the other so that he crouched atop the fallen blue box. He stood upward fully, revealing his especial height, and took a step forward off the box; but his high-top clad foot met nothing but air and he tipped forward and faceplanted in the snow.

Mikan looked on with wide eyes and open mouth. Hotaru quietly made her way around to stand next to her friend.

After a second the tall man moved his arms and raised himself on them. He climbed again to his feet, this time on soft snow, and turned around unsteadily, gazing about. When he turned to where Mikan and Hotaru stood he started slightly, clearly not remembering having seen them several seconds before.

"Oh!" he cried in an English accent. "Hello there."

"Hi!" Mikan managed.

"Are you okay?" Hotaru inquired.

The man reached up and smoothed his disheveled hair. "I've been through worse."

"My name is Mikan Sakura!" Mikan introduced herself, less nervous now that she saw it had only been a man inside the blue box and not a fierce bird or angry teddy bear.

"Hello, Mikan-chan!" the man greeted her warmly. He shifted his eyes to look at Hotaru, but the dark-haired girl stared with her eyes into his in silence.

"This is Hotaru Imai," Mikan spoke up again. "She's my best friend!" She grinned.

"Hello, Hotaru-chan." The man continued to meet her gaze. Then he broke off and looked back and forth between the two girls several times. "I am the Doctor!" he declared.

"I didn't know Alice Academy had a doctor," Hotaru stated.

"I've never seen you before," Mikan said, furrowing her eyebrows. Then she added, "And there were several times when we could have used you."

"No, I'm not the Academy doctor," he replied, "I'm _the_ Doctor! The definite article, you might say." He paused, and then his voice lowered before he said, "I need your help."

"You need _our_ help?" Mikan asked in surprise.

"Yes." The Doctor nodded once. "It is in regard to Christmas."

Mikan's eyes widened. "Do you need us to help you save Christmas?"

The Doctor grew sober. "No. I need you to help me stop it."


	2. Jack Frost

Jack Frost

"Welcome," exclaimed the Doctor, throwing up both arms, "to my ship! The TARDIS!"

Mikan stepped tentatively through the door after Hotaru. The brown-haired girl widened her eyes.

"It's bigger on the inside!" said she with awe.

"Is it an illusion?" Prez asked, having come in behind her. He explored the room with his eyes, looking through the round-lenses of his glasses.

"No, it's not an illusion! What kind of question is that?" the Doctor hurried to the round console in the middle of the room and flipped several switches.

Hotaru did not say anything or change her expression, but it was evident that she was impressed. Just inside the door stood Natsume and Luca, looking around with expressions dull and dark, like the ones they customarily wore.

"Who invited all these people?" the Doctor asked, looking over the group before him before turning and pushing several more buttons in sequence.

"They're our friends!" Mikan defended them. "You said you needed help!"

"There's room," Hotaru noted also.

"We don't take up much space," Prez added helpfully.

The Doctor pulled a lever. "Very well, let them come! The more, the merrier!" He turned from his flurry of activity. "Well then, shall we be off? Shut the door, will you?" he added in the direction of Natsume and Luca. The latter of those leaned out into the snowy air and pulled the door shut.

The TARDIS was very close to where it had crash landed only a half-hour previous; they had managed to right it after obtaining the assistance of several others-the ones now aboard with them.

"OOOOhhhhh!" the Doctor cried with sheer joy, adjusting several controls and dashing around to the other side to flip three more levers.

The sound that Mikan and Hotaru had first heard of the TARDIS now started up again, but now louder and more booming, seeming to come from everywhere. The girls and their friends looked around them, wide-eyed; even Natsume and Luca.

"You may want to hold onto something!" the Doctor shouted over the din a moment before they were all thrown off-balance by the tilting floor like a ride at a carnival.

Mikan fell against the railing near the control panel and held onto it so she would not be completely swept off her feet. Around her, cries from Prez and Luca accompanied much shuffling as they all experienced similar effects. Prez clubbed himself in the head on a wall and he grimaced in pain while spreading his arms apart trying to hold himself there in order to avoid further injury.

"And here we go!" the Doctor shouted with a grin on his face, one arm anchoring him to the control panel.

* * *

><p>A short while later, maybe another half of an hour by Mikan's guesstimation, the sound of the TARDIS reengaged; it had ceased shortly after their rough takeoff and with it the rough turbulence, but now they both began again and the Doctor declared the cause to be their landing. The TARDIS did land with an active and audible jolt, sending its occupants careening again. Then everything settled and the TARDIS slowed to a hum and then lessened that until it was silent.<p>

"Where are we?" Mikan whispered.

"We," said the Doctor, jumping in front of her and peering closely at several dials on the main control panel, "are on Captain Jack Frost's ship in space."

"Jack Frost?" Natsume spoke for the first time since Mikan and Hotaru had arrived with Prez to recruit him and Luca in helping to right the TARDIS.

"Yes," the Doctor answered. "That's not his real name, but it's the one he goes by. He's a space pirate, exiled from his home planet and now roaming the galaxies, plundering and destroying anyone who stands in his way." He grinned.

No one said anything.

"But now _we're_ standing in his way!" Mikan said what they all were thinking.

"Don't worry," the Doctor's chipper voice told them. "I don't give up easily either."

"Why were you alone?" Natsume asked. "Why did you come for our help?" The two questions seemed long for the quiet, stone-faced boy with dark hair, but the blunt way of stating his thoughts was characteristic of him.

The Doctor raised a finger. "I'm not alone. My companion is holding down the fort here while I went to ask for your help."

A knock sounded from the other side of the TARDIS door.

"That must be him now!" the Doctor exclaimed cheerily. He jumped toward the door and hurried the rest of the way to it. He pushed it open and peered out.

Three tall, thin blue guns pointed at his head, the weapons held by men with blue skin and blue spiked hair and each dressed in a metallic blue suit.

"Oh," spake the Doctor. "You're not who I was expecting."

The blue men motioned with their weapons and the Doctor exited the TARDIS with the Alice Academy students cautiously following behind him. The room in which they found themselves was blue and white with no sharp corners-rather everything curved and swirled in hypnotic and artistic patterns; in the same way, the varying shades of blue and white on the walls, floor, and ceiling also did not change abruptly but shifted gradually from one colour to another. The blue men were a bit taller than the Doctor's own height and the ceiling above them allowed space for that greater height. The air was cold, almost as cold as it had been outdoors in the snow at Alice Academy. Perhaps that was why the men were blue, Mikan thought and then giggled.

The tall, blue men motioned again with their guns and wordlessly accompanied the party from the room down a long passage wide enough for three or four people to walk side-by-side. One of the tall men walked in front of them and the other two walked behind with a stiff, swaying step that reminded Mikan of a medieval European knight in full armour.

Mikan and the others watched the Doctor for a hint of when to attack the three men, who were well outnumbered, but the Brit walked confidently and seemed to not care about freeing themselves from captivity. Mikan found herself wondering if they had not walked straight into a trap here. Was the Doctor in alliance with these...these...whatever they were? Had he tricked the Alice Academy students into coming here for some reason? Perhaps to use Natsume's strong power? Several people seemed intent on obtaining that.

Hotaru touched Mikan's arm and shook her head slightly, telling her not to get any ideas about attacking now. Did she know something? No, likely she just wanted to see more of this play out before acting rather than doing something in haste and possibly regretting it. It was a valid point, Mikan had to admit to herself. She smiled at Hotaru and gave a conceding nod.

The blue men took them down the hall, not turning right nor left into any of the curved open doorways which they passed as they walked. Finally they came to the end of the hall and went through an open doorway into a larger room of the same style and colour as the rest of the ship that Mikan had seen up to now.

The room, larger in all dimensions, was filled with rounded blocks of ice with frozen blobs inside them of colours and sizes that varied from block to block, though Mikan could not see exactly what the blobs themselves were. The rest of the room seemed to be a collection of utterly random and whimsical things: white flagpoles with strange, unmoving banners hanging from them, icicles hanging from the ceiling in sizes small to huge, and a large design of lines on one wall that seemed to display some message or picture without breaking the style of gradually-changing colors; these were amid many other things of which Mikan couldn't begin to guess the purpose.

"Jack!" one of the blue men called out, his voice firm and smooth like the rounded blocks of ice around him.

Something moved and another blue man came into sight. His long blue hair hung in dreadlocks down to shoulder-level of the blue metallic suit he wore. He was just slightly shorter than the others, but the look in his eyes showed that nothing was lost because of it. His clothing was similar to that of the others, but rather than a gun holster he carried a large sheathed sword at his side.

"Yeah, what is it?" Jack Frost asked.

"We caught these people down in section D." The blue man nodded in the general direction of the Doctor and Alice Academy group. "They got inside in that strange square blue ship. I don't know how."

Jack Frost came closer and he broke his blue face into a smile. "Doctor!" he exclaimed gaily as though he was meeting an old friend. "I did puzzle quite a bit when I found your companion but not you nor your ship."

"What did you do to him?" the Doctor asked through narrowed eyes, for the first time since Mikan had met him seeming something besides amiable.

"Oh, don't worry," Jack Frost waved off the question, "He is safe and unharmed." Looking around at the Alice Academy students, he raised his blue eyebrows. "Where did these come from, though? I have not heard anything about you offering school field trips."

The Doctor ignored the jibe and said in a collected voice, "They are here to help me stop you. I'm a little short-handed at the moment-I was really in the middle of something when I learned of your plot."

"Well, you needn't have troubled yourself on my account," Jack said with mock politeness.

"Don't worry, I didn't," the Doctor responded drily. "I troubled myself for the six billion people that you will kill if you succeed!"

"Oh, you're always so over-dramatic." Jack raised a hand in gesture. "There will be several hundred thousand who survive."

Mikan's eyes widened. Several hundred thousand? He was going to kill billions!

"What are you doing?" she yelled before she could stop herself.

Hotaru sidled up beside her.

"Well," said Jack. "Since you asked, I will tell you." He paused for dramatic effect before continuing. "My plan, my current grand scheme, is to bring the snow and ice to the entire earth in time for Christmas, giving all the joy of a white Christmas!" He spread his blue arms wide, grinning broadly.

Mikan furrowed her eyebrows, confused. If this was all that the pirate had planned, why was the Doctor so anxious to stop him?

"Oh, go on," the Doctor encouraged. "Tell them how you intend to do this!"

Jack smiled. "My ship, The Door Nipper, is waiting here directly in the path of a meteor covered in ice. When the meteor comes to this spot we will redirect it from its course and it will head instead toward Earth. When it hits Earth," he raised both hands, "it will lower the temperature and make Christmas everywhere! A Christmas that will never end! And I, Jack Frost, will be its ruler with my Icite band!"

Mikan's mouth hung open under widened eyes. Hotaru's eyes were narrowed and Prez looked alarmed. Even Natsume and Luca looked more fierce and contrary than usual.


	3. Prison of Ice

Prison of Ice

The Doctor looked grim, but confident. "It will not happen," he vowed, "I will make sure of it!"

"Yes, yes," Jack Frost said with a dismissive wave of his hand. "I'm not a fool. I only told you my plan because I knew you could do nothing to stop it. Now," said he, turning to one of the Icites that had brought them from the TARDIS, "take them to section C and put them with the other." Then he looked back to the Doctor. "You'll be released after my plans are complete. After that there will be nothing you can do to me."

"Oho, you are wrong there." The Doctor's eyes shot daggers. "I will never rest until I avenge everyone whom you have killed. I will not stop until every single-"

Jack Frost rolled his eyes and gestured, at which one of the gun-wielding Icites hit the Doctor in the back of the head with his weapon. The Doctor crumbled to the blue-white floor, unconscious.

Mikan screamed.

Natsume lightly smacked her head. "Be quiet, moron," he muttered.

Mikan glared at him.

"Come on, Mikan," Prez said, coming up beside her and taking her arm. Hotaru appeared at her other side and they carted her off after the Doctor, who was being dragged from the room between two Icites.

The Icites took them along the hall but then turned into a different passageway, and from then on the path taken was twisting and a seeming maze. Mikan doubted that she would be able to find her way back to the TARDIS if she got the chance. They came to an end in their current passage but the two Icites in front kept going, and then at the end of the passage they disappeared when they seemed to drop into the floor, pulling the Doctor with them!

Mikan let loose a yip and rushed forward, slowing to a stop at the edge of the steep drop. The Icites were just disappearing again with the Doctor's limp form still between them.

"Go on," said the Icite behind them and shoved Mikan in the back.

Mikan found herself falling and screamed, a second later landing in cold snow. Looking around, she saw Hotaru beside her in the snow. Mikan exchanged a look with Hotaru before Prez landed on top of her.

"Oof!" said the brown-haired girl unintentionally as the air was forced from her lungs.

"Sorry." Prez looked sheepish.

Then, looking past him, Mikan saw Natsume step off the edge. Mikan's eyes widened and she opened her mouth to cry out again, but instead what air she had managed to retain was now forced from her lungs.

"You're hard," Natsume mumbled as he slid off of them to his feet.

Prez picked himself up too as Hotaru came over, and both taking shovels they peeled Mikan like a pancake from the snow where she lie flattened. Luca already was to his feet near Natsume, and when all of the students had cleared away the blue Icite leaped down and herded them forward again. He pushed them at a fast pace and soon they caught up with the other blue men and the Doctor.

Soon they entered a room in which a passage was made by white bars on either side and in front, with an area behind the bars on all sides forming a U; the bars looked to be made of ice. In this U which was on all sides of them except behind, was one lone figure in lying by the far wall to their left. As they came in he sat up quickly and looked at them all without saying anything.

The man had short, brown hair and a tall head with high cheekbones, and his mouth hung slightly ajar. He wore an armoured breastplate barely visible under a flowing red cape behind him that now it hung over him like a blanket.

While Mikan had been taking this in, one of the Icites in front of them had been doing something so that now a bar of ice before him was bent to one side. Mikan gaped, wondering how he had bent it.

"Inside," he said brusquely, as much as his hard, firm Icite voice could be brusque.

The other Icite threw the Doctor inside gracelessly and the man inside dove forward, managing to partially catch him. The Alice academy students reluctantly followed with a bit of prodding from the Icite behind.

Mikan was last and an Icite shoved her inside the area, and when she gathered herself and looked back the one bar was straight again and they were left with no way of escape. Without further ado, the blue men left the way they had come.

The man with them glanced around at the Alice Academy students around him, but primarily his focus was on the Doctor. Turning the latter over onto his back, the man called to him several times with varying inflection in an attempt to rouse him back to consciousness.

"Will he be okay?" Prez asked hopefully.

"He should be fine," replied the man, looking up at them. He paused. "Who are you?"

"They are the help that I fetched to help us," said the Doctor, his energetic voice making him sound none the worse for the wear. He opened his eyes and jumped to his feet. "Now then, what did I miss?" The Doctor turned his head, looking around him. His gaze alighted on the bony man who still sat on the ground, his cape splayed out behind him. "Rory!" he exclaimed.

"Hello, Doctor," the man replied. "I'm sorry, they caught me very quickly after you left. I couldn't find anything."

"It's all right, Rory," the Doctor told him.

Rory turned and scanned the faces of the Alice Academy group. "Where did you find them? They're only children!"

"No, I don't think they're only children," the Doctor responded, himself looking at them. "If I hadn't had my TARDIS with me I don't think I would have been able to get in undetected. It would have been very difficult, at the least."

Mikan felt the Doctor's inspecting gaze on her and shifted uncomfortably where she stood.

"Is now the time for this?" Rory asked.

"You're right!" The Doctor clapped his hands together. "We've got a space pirate to stop!"

"How are we going to get though?" Prez strained at the white bars, then removed his hands and put them to his cheeks. "They're really cold!"

"Of course they are," the Doctor replied. "Those are made of ice. Not the stuff humans think of as ice, either; that light, brittle stuff. No, this ice is moist and very, very strong."

"If you're trying to be encouraging, Doctor," said Rory, "it's not working."

Hotaru was now more interested, the composition of the bars being analyzed as they were. She peered closely at one of them.

"If it's still ice, can we still break it like really tough ice?" Luca asked.

"Yes, that is precisely right!" the Doctor exclaimed.

"Does anyone have a good way to break strong ice, then?" Rory asked.

"I can make fire come out of my hands," said Natsume drily.

"Oh yes, very funny," Rory responded. "But really, does...woah!" He dodged reflexively to the side as a small fireball flew past him from Natsume.

Natsume smirked.

The marble of fire hit one of the bars and the two elements clashed, causing the eruption of a small cloud of steam.

"It might just work!" the Doctor declared.

Natsume moved to one of the bars closer to him and put his hands near to the solid ice. A small pillar of steam began to waft upward as heat was applied; it was not as violent as the first time, but Mikan remembered that Natsume got tired if he used his alice too much within a length of time and so it made sense to do it more gradually.

"What exactly is that blue lunatic planning to do?" Luca spoke up.

"He said he planned to crash a meteor into Earth!" said Prez.

"That's right," confirmed Rory with a shake of his head.

"Basically," said the Doctor, "Jack told it to you correctly. When that meteor hits earth it will kill anyone in its landing spot-which will be a very large area-and millions more will die in the resulting earthquakes!" Mikan raised her hand. "Even if it lands in the sea," the Doctor continued, answering Mikan's unasked question, "the tsunamis caused will kill at least that many people, and probably more! The result of the temperature decrease will bring Earth into another ice age, killing crops and many animals and people."

"What can we do?" Mikan asked with big eyes.

The Doctor smiled, and Mikan thought he looked a bit insane.

"When he gets that look on his face," Rory said, "you should probably run."

* * *

><p>It took some more time, but eventually Natsume had burned clear through two places in the one ice bar, creating an opening through which they could squeeze. They all did so and then left the room.<p>

"You three," the Doctor indicated Natsume, Luca, and Prez, "go with Rory to the back of the ship and try to find and disable the tractor beam. If I recall correctly, Icite ships are usually armed with them."

"A tractor what?" Mikan asked.

"A tractor beam," the Doctor replied. "Jack will probably use it to draw the frozen meteor out of its projected orbit and into a collision path with Earth."

"Where will you be?" Rory asked.

"Mikan-chan, Hotaru-chan, and I will go to the controls and try to stop his plan that way."

"How will you stop him there?" Rory inquired.

"I don't know yet." The Doctor grinned.

Rory blinked.

"Well, let's be off before they decide to come this way and spot us!" the Doctor declared.

He led the way, Mikan and Hotaru following, toward the front of the ship. Rory went the other direction with Natsume, Luca, and Prez.


	4. Operation Improv

Operation Improv

The Doctor, Mikan, and Hotaru retraced their steps, though the Doctor did not remember much of having gone this way before, being unconscious as he had been. They came to the snowy drop from the floor above and the Doctor showed the girls ladders on both sides that they had not noticed before.

* * *

><p>"I'm not sure where it is that we're going," Rory said in a low voice as they walked, "but it should be near the back of the ship somewhere."<p>

"Will we run into any of those...men?" Prez asked. "The blue ones?"

"The Icites? It's very possible," Rory confirmed. He peered around into a passage, making sure that it was clear before darting past it and the three boys behind him scurried past after him.

* * *

><p>Climbing the ladders on either side of the snowy area, the Doctor, Hotaru, and Mikan retraced further their steps for a short distance further before the Doctor stopped them.<p>

"We should take a different route, one that is less frequented," spoke he quietly.

"Do you know your way around Icite ships?" Mikan whispered.

"Not in the slightest," the Doctor answered before slipping into a room on one side.

Hotaru and Mikan exchanged a look and then trailed him.

* * *

><p>"How did you start traveling with the Doctor?" Prez asked, his voice low, as were all of their voices when they spoke.<p>

Rory didn't reply for a minute. He briefly sent a glance down one passage before whipping his head around to the one opposite; seeing nothing, he kept walking. "My wife met him when she was little. She told me about him, but I didn't believe her. Then one day...he came back. And he saved the world."

Luca and Natsume followed them in silence, listening but not offering their own opinions.

"Does he save the world often?" Prez asked.

Rory smiled and seemed to laugh inaudibly to himself. "Yes, he does."

The sounds of footsteps met their ears and as one they froze.

"In here!" Rory hissed, dragging Prez by the sleeve in through a side door.

Luca and Natsume flitted inside after them like shadows and all four hugged the wall by the door. A few seconds later an Icite stalked by with his swaying gait. After the blue man had passed, Natsume peered out into the hall and looked both up it and down before leaving the safety of the side room and leading the rest back to their purposeful path toward the ship's rear.

* * *

><p>"Yes...here we are." The Doctor waltzed into the control room, having in the moment before scanned it for blue men.<p>

The space was bigger than the room they had first appeared in, though not nearly as big as the one in which they had all been introduced to Jack. In the middle of it was an island of computer panels, the controls of which were on the outside; a slightly smaller island atop that island contained output screens, some showing parts of the ship or numerical readout and some blank.

The Doctor glanced back. "I don't suppose either of you two girls can work an Icite computer system?"

"Hotaru is very good with mechanical things," Mikan told him.

"Well then," said he, "Hotaru-chan. Would you like to have at it?"

Hotaru kept herself composed, but Mikan could see the interest in her eyes as she went forward to look over the controls. She occasionally pushed a button or flipped a switch; sometimes she flipped it immediately back and sometimes she left it altered.

"Time is running out," said the Doctor. "Soon the ice meteor will be close enough and Jack will come here to divert its path." He paused before adding, "No pressure."

Hotaru ignored him.

* * *

><p>"I think this is it," Rory whispered.<p>

"The rear of the ship?" Prez asked. "What makes you think so?"

Rory pointed to an indented circle set into the wall. He reached forward and pushed it, at which it fell back noiselessly to reveal a tiny room with silent consoles at the other end. "An escape pod," said he to Prez.

"I saw one of those earlier," Luca said. "It was filled with dark blue packs."

"They're probably using it as a temporary storage or something," Rory replied with a shrug. "Who knows what they do or why they do it?"

"Where would the tractor beam be?" Prez asked, looking around.

"I think I got a glance of a schematic of the ship before they caught me the first time," Rory responded, himself looking around. "I think there's a room that might contain it...under this one."

They all looked at the floor, wondering how to get down to the floor below.

"Here," Natsume spoke the single word and they all looked to where he stood by a bluish support pillar. A hole beside it revealed itself to be a pit containing snow almost identical to the one which they had used before.

They all went to the pit and one at a time dropped in.

* * *

><p>"What is that noise?" Mikan asked with widened eyes. It sounded like a large mechanical cricket.<p>

The sound stopped.

"What, this?" The Doctor held up something long and fairly thin, a combination of light brown, grey, a bit of black, and a bit of green on one end. The Doctor did something and the sound started again, the green on one end of the tool in his hand lighting up.

Mikan nodded in confirmation, staring raptly at it.

"This is my sonic screwdriver!" he exclaimed, spinning 'round in a circle. Then he turned back to the computer and started using the device again.

"What does it do?" Mikan questioned.

"Lots of things!" said the Doctor without turning or stopping whatever he was doing.

"Stop, Doctor!" the command came from behind and Mikan spun to see Jack Frost standing with his height, hand on the sword at his side. On either side two other, taller Icites stood with their own ranged weapons leveled, one at Mikan and one at the Doctor.

"Ah, Jack," the Doctor declared. "Fancy meeting you here!"

"Isn't it?" Jack sneered. "You have become something of a nuisance here."

"You flatter me," spoke the Doctor without removing his gaze from Jack.

"Yes," Jack said thoughtfully, mostly to himself. "It seems you have somehow broken out of my ice cell. Not a feat to be taken lightly." He took two steps forward, focusing none on Mikan although she was close enough to strike him if she had so wanted. "I could freeze you in a block of ice and put you in my trophy room with the other animals I have hunted and caught." He raised his free hand. "I, Jack Frost, have caught the famed Doctor! He is still alive but he is helpless and in my possession. Fortunately for you," he continued, "such a thing requires some preparation, especially for warm-blooded races such as yourself. Therefore, I will replace you _back_ in my ice cell with the bar that is now fixed, and I will place a guard over you with orders to shoot you if you try anything foolish." Jack cocked an eyebrow.

"That sounds reasonable," the Doctor agreed.

"I don't care about what you think is 'reasonable'!" roared the Icite pirate, his blue dreadlocks shaking. He turned to one of the other Icites. "Take them!" he ordered.

* * *

><p>Rory held a wire with both hands. "Cut it here," he told Natsume.<p>

Natsume reached a hand into the internals of the machinery and put his fingers around the wire between Rory's two hands. Flame leaped from Natsume's fingers and Rory's own hands instinctively slipped farther down the wire away from the boy, but he could not feel the heat from the flame in the cold climate on The Door Nipper, Jack's ship.

After a short while the wire fell apart where Natsume had burned through and both he and Rory relinquished their holds on it.

"Good," stated Rory. "I don't know very much about tractor beams, but hopefully I know enough about mechanics to sabotage one."

"Uh-oh!" Prez exclaimed softly.

Luca said, "Natsume," and the way he said it caused his friend to jerk his head up, dark locks of hair thrown to sides.

Rory also looked up.

A blue man came into sight, looking right at them and holding his gun leveled. "Hold it!" He jerked with the weapon. "Move away from that." They complied and the Icite moved toward the tractor beam as another Icite came into view, he also holding his weapon at ready. The first Icite looked into the exposed internals of the tractor beam while Rory and Prez cringed, but a second later he pulled the piece over the opening, covering the inner workings of the large device.

"Come on," ordered the other Icite, who was closer to the pit which they had used in jumping down from above. "Let's go. I think Jack will be very happy to see you two."

"Or not," added the first Icite, and they both laughed; their laughter sounded like dozens of icicles cracking.

Rory reluctantly followed their order, glancing over his shoulder to see Prez shuffling along behind his flowing cape. He didn't see Natsume and Luca, and so turned to look over his other shoulder. Wait. _"You two"?_

"You won't escape from our watch," the Icite behind told him. "You may as well stop looking for a way to try."

"It would only end painfully for you," the one in front added in agreement.

Rory stopped looking for fear that they would realize two were still missing. He caught Prez's eye and the latter caught the look in Rory's; glancing quickly around, Prez realized what Rory had already seen and the boy furrowed his blond eyebrows behind his glasses. Rory responded with a slight shrug and they kept walking.


	5. Locked Up Again

Locked Up...Again

Jack Frost led the Doctor and the two girls along a passage accompanied by the two Icites behind them. Mikan watched the Doctor in case this time he decided to revolt against their captors, but he did not seem interested in anything of the sort.

Jack apparently thought of the same things, for after a little while he stopped and held up a hand, causing all behind him to follow suit. He turned.

"This lack of resistance is altogether too suspicious!" he declared. "The Doctor may well have planned an ambush ahead with his other friends, or who knows what else!" The Doctor looked pleased at this nervous speculation regarding him, which did not help the lead Icite's demeanor in the slightest. "Shoot him in the leg so that he can't run," he ordered one of his crew behind and the Icite raised his weapon, a moment later discharging it.

The Doctor collapsed and Hotaru had to catch him, barely supporting his weight and size with her own ten-year-old body.

"I'm...all right," the Doctor stated, catching himself partially and relieving most of the stress on Hotaru. The Doctor looked down. "My leg is numb," said he, his weight shifted onto the other leg. "I can't move it!"

"That's one of the lowest settings on these weapons," Jack Frost mentioned pointedly. "It will wear off in time." He turned forward again. "Okay, let's be off then. I feel safer now."

The Doctor hobbled along as fast as he could, Hotaru helping on the side of his bad leg as a sort of human crutch while Mikan on the other side tried to do anything she could to help.

Eventually they reached the snow pit giving them access to the floor below and they jumped. The girls went first and then helped the Doctor out when he fell into it. They made their way to the ice cell and stopped outside while Jack opened up the door.

"Jack!" an Icite voice called from further in the passage and Jack and those near him looked toward it.

Two of the tall blue men marched toward them holding weapons with Rory and Prez between them. The latter two both looked sullen.

_Where are Natsume-kun and Luca-pyon?_ Mikan wondered suddenly. _DID THE ICITES KILL THEM AND JETISON THEM OUT INTO SPACE?_ She collapsed on the ground with the thought.

"Get up, stupid," Hotaru told her, looking from where she helped assist the Doctor in standing.

"Well," spoke Jack. "What do we have here? Two more?"

"We found them at the back of the ship," the Icite in front said to him.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Were they up to anything?"

"They were messing around near one of the generators," was the reply. "But I didn't see anything damaged."

Jack seemed relieved. "Caught before they could cause any problems," he mused, looking back at the Doctor triumphantly. "Though this makes me even more sure with my decision to place a guard here to make sure you don't try anything. Remember what their weapons can do," he remarked.

Neither the Doctor nor anyone else said nothing in answer and Jack with the rest of the present Icites herded the group into the room. The ice bar which Natsume had burned through was now fixed and one Icite went further into the room to "unlock" one bar and make it bendable for them to step through into the U-shaped cell. Jack, his hand resting idly on his sword, stood near the door with the other four blue men and waited while the fifth Icite did this. Then the Doctor, Rory, and present Alice Academy students were ordered inside and the bar bent back and locked behind them.

Jack Frost turned to the five Icites there. "Which one of you would like the honor of watching these troublemakers?" Only one raised his hand and Jack nodded to him. "Good, the job is yours. If they try to make any sort of move, shoot; but don't kill them. Don't fail," he added before turning and stalking from the room, the other four Icites following.

All in the cell did not speak for a minute.

"Here again!" Rory exclaimed finally, kicking one of the bars in frustration and regretting it for the pain that shot through his leg.

"Hardly closer than when we began," the Doctor lamented.

Rory seemed to want to say something, but he glanced toward the Icite guarding the door. The pirate looked at them, watching, although his eyes seemed somehow...blank.

"Prez!" Mikan dove across the floor to where the blond boy sat staring intently at the Icite by the door. "Are you okay?" Mikan questioned frantically. "Did they hurt you? What happened?"

Prez finally broke his concentration and looked to Mikan. "I'm okay, Mikan-chan. I'm fine." He looked reassuringly at Hotaru, who also gazed at him with a tinge of worry in her eyes.

"Doctor!" Rory exclaimed.

"What is it, Rory?" the Doctor asked.

"The Icite! It's...gone!"

"What do you mean it's..." The Doctor stopped as he too looked to the door and saw the blue man missing.

Mikan and Hotaru spun to look and see for themselves. Prez smiled sheepishly and the Doctor noticed. The latter raised an eyebrow in silent question.

"It was an illusion," Prez explained. "It wasn't really there."

Mikan grinned and hugged Prez.

Rory stared at Prez, his eyes revealing something between fear and awe. "Who are you people?"

Mikan turned her head, still hugging Prez. "We're from Alice Academy!" she declared.

Rory rotated his head to the Doctor and his mouth shifted with unverbalized questions.

The Doctor looked back at him for a moment before clapping his hands and grinning. "Well then! Prez has gotten us without a guard! Let's not waste time!"

* * *

><p>Luca trailed Natsume closely through the long passage. Both of them scanned the area with their eyes and ears for any Icites. They had already had to avoid two since departing from the rear of the ship after Prez and Rory had been taken away.<p>

Footsteps sounded and they darted into the nearest door, which thankfully had no occupants of itself. The blue Icite passed and the two boys waited until he had turned from the passage before coming out of their hiding spot.

Luca and Natsume hurried through the passage in the direction of the front of the ship, not speaking but not having to. They heard a voice and jumped through the closest doorway, afraid they'd been seen; but the Icite passed and kept talking to himself. They waited until he passed and had turned into another passage before they left the room and continued on their way.


	6. Ice Melted and Shattered

Ice Melted and Shattered

Natsume eased open the door, his eyes primed and looking for anyone inside the room. The blocks of ice with rounded edges sat still and silent around the other various articles in the room. Natsume stepped carefully inside, also listening for even the slightest noise that would betray another's presence.

Luca slipped in behind him and shut the door without a sound. He turned his eyes around the room before looking to Natsume. After a moment Natsume nodded and both boys relaxed. They were alone.

Luca ran up to the closest ice block and put both hands on it, staring at the creature trapped within the frozen confines.

"I'm here!" he cried loudly enough for all of the animals to hear. Already he could sense their awareness of him.

Natsume walked closer, still looking around warily but also with some interest in the room's assortment of objects. He turned his gaze to look at Luca, his best friend, who stood staring into the helpless eyes of a creature through ice. Natsume raised his hands and placed them on the cold ice.

* * *

><p>"How are we going to get it open?" Mikan asked. They had been trying various things to free themselves from behind the solid bars of ice, but with nothing to show for it except weariness and discouragement.<p>

"What are we going to do after we do get out?" Hotaru inquired quietly.

"Yes, what indeed," the Doctor agreed. "We have some idea of the controls but have done nothing to halt the impending meteor, and nothing has been done to sabotage the actual tractor beam at the other end..."

"Actually, Doctor," Rory put in, "we did try to damage it. We got in and cut a few wires, turned a couple of things...I don't really know how those things work."

"Neither did that Icite henchman, apparently," the Doctor remarked with a growing smile. "Very good, then!" he exclaimed. "We may possibly have hurt the tractor beam. However, our job is not done. When Jack tries to use the tractor beam and nothing happens, he will hurry to it and attempt to fix it. We must be there to stop him!"

"What about Natsume and Luca?" Mikan cried.

"Ah, yes. We need to find them also," the Doctor agreed. "They're able boys. I'm sure they'll be okay for a little while."

"First we have to get out of here," Prez reminded.

"Here, let me try..." the Doctor murmured to himself, reaching into his coat. He pulled forth his sonic screwdriver and flicked a switch, causing it to buzz strangely as it had a habit of doing, before after a second he turned it off. "I don't know how these locks work exactly," he commented, moving to one of the bars and flicking the screwdriver on again, moving it up and down over the ice, "but it's possible that I'll be able to do a little something with it using this."

* * *

><p>The ice melted under Natsume's fiery hands while Luca spoke soothing words to the animal trapped inside, though the block was diminishing in size. This was the fourth one that they were freeing up to now, but there were more than that many creatures still trapped in ice. Natsume set his jaw and kept the steady heat coming from his hands.<p>

* * *

><p>"All right then," the Doctor barely moved his mouth to create the words. His face was mere inches from the bar as he fiddled with his sonic screwdriver in one hand, trying to find a way for the tool to penetrate this uncommon lock. "Aha!" he exclaimed.<p>

"What is it?" Mikan asked.

"And is it more interesting than the twenty-four other times you've said that very thing about ice particles and frozen bacteria?" Rory added.

The Doctor looked up, a smile on his face. "I've got it!" said he. "I've unlocked it!"

All besides Hotaru, who had remained standing, scrambled to their feet with glad utterances.

"Now all that we have to do is move tit!" the Doctor said, pressing his weight on the bar. "Uh...you want to give me a hand, Rory?" he asked sheepishly, putting his sonic screwdriver away in an internal pocket of his coat.

Soon Mikan, Prez, and Hotaru were also helping, Prez and Hotaru pushing on Mikan who pushed on Rory who pushed on the Doctor who pushed on the bar of ice.

After a minute of no progress the Doctor said, "Okay, this isn't working." He stopped putting pressure on the vertical bar and in the next instant found himself pressed against it. The freezing cold burned the side of his face where the ice met flesh. "You can let up now," he grunted and finally the others got the message and halted. The Doctor pried himself from the bitterly cold surface and straightened his coat.

* * *

><p>Natsume watched Luca comfort the newly-freed creature. The joy in his friend's eyes was undeniable at the animal interaction. Animal pheromones wasn't just his alice; he took pleasure and enjoyment from creatures.<p>

They moved on to the next rounded block of ice. Natsume could almost feel his energy ebbing away as he kept calling forth fire. There were only two more after this...

* * *

><p>"What will we do?" Mikan asked.<p>

"I'm not sure..." the Doctor admitted, though by looking into his eyes Rory could see that the wheels of his mind were still cranking as he tried to think of an idea and a way out. "We need to hurry," the Doctor added. "By my estimation, the meteor will be within range any minute now. We need to get to the tractor beam at the back."

"Hey, I can use my sword!" Rory said, wondering why he hadn't thought of it sooner.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the Doctor warned.

"Are you kidding?" Rory asked rhetorically. "This is a Roman short sword!" He drew it and looked at the bar of ice. Then he drew the sword back and swung it with a fierce cry; a second later he cried out in pain as metal bounced off solid ice and injured his hand which held it. Rory glared at the Doctor. "Don't say anything!"

The Doctor held up both his hands innocently.

"Can your screwdriver emit high-frequency waves?" Hotaru spoke up.

The Doctor paused his thought process to consider her question. "It may be able to," he acknowledged. Looking again toward the bar of ice, unlocked but firm, he smiled. Whipping out his sonic screwdriver, the Doctor worked with it for a second before with a flick of his wrist bringing it buzzing to life. The buzzing grew higher and higher in pitch.

Rory, Mikan, and the other two began to cringe at the painful pitch before throwing their hands over their ears and gritting their teeth together against it. The Doctor seemed oblivious. Pointing it at the bar he held it as the pitch kept climbing until they were unable to hear it any longer. Those who had put their hands to their ears removed them now with relief at the noise that was still there but now was inaudible and painless to them.

Then the bar of ice shattered. Shards of ice flew everywhere, connecting with other ice, walls, ceiling, floor, and people. Those inside the cell threw up their arms defensively with cries and retreated several steps as bits of ice embedded themselves in skin and ricocheted painfully off clothing.

"It looks like we're free," Rory commented, pulling bits of ice from his face and arms and wincing as some of them proved to be painful for extraction.

"Let's go," the Doctor declared, picking several bits from his own face. "Don't worry about the ice," he mentioned over his shoulder. "It'll melt."

"Will it hurt?" Prez inquired, not adding the word "further" on the end though it was implied.

"Probably," said the Doctor. "But you'll be fine in the end." He slipped through the opening where an ice bar had stood only seconds before. "Come along, then!"

Just then an explosion sounded that shook the ship around them despite not being very close in proximate to their location. Mikan held out her arms for balance though she did not need it: the ship did not shake enough to throw them from their feet and soon both it and the noise lowered to a stop.

"What was that?" Mikan asked anxiously.

"That," said Rory, "was the tractor beam."

The Doctor displayed a crooked smile and looked proudly at Rory. "Well done," he said.

Rory looked pleased.

A loud chorus of shouts and other noises made its way to them.

"Natsume-kun! Luca-pyon!" Mikan exclaimed.

The Doctor almost danced to the door. "Let's see what is happening then, shall we?"

The others followed him to the door and ran out into the connecting passageway. They all followed the clamor down that passage and through to the snow pit, for the chaos seemed to be on the floor above. Climbing up the ladders, they all raced toward the noise and found themselves at Jack Frost's trophy room. There at the open door they all stopped, needing several moments to take in the sight that greeted them.


	7. Living Trophies

Living Trophies

Jack Frost stood close to a wall on one side, pure-white ice sword drawn, with about half of a dozen Icite crewmen with him. Around them, the blocks of ice were all but gone and only the bases of some remained; in their place were a hodge-podge group of creatures that Mikan had never seen before in her life. They did not seem very happy with Jack or the other Icites, either.

A blue cat with oblong hind legs hissed and leaped into the air, nearly touching the large icicles hanging from the ceiling before falling again and landing a short distance away with no injury. A bear with glowing orange skin and dark red eyes stood on its hind legs, opened its mouth to reveal four blackened fangs, and roared with a fear-inducing sound like water meeting melted lava. Its orange hands were tiny relative to the rest of him like those of a Tyrannosaurus Rex with two claws on each.

A clump of brown streaked overhead and Mikan focused on it; she saw a small brown monkey with playful eyes squealing shrilly with delight as he flew overhead by two webbed wings similar to a bats where there should be ears. Four limbs like arms hung where they should below it as it flew.

A small white wolf, its pale fur slightly curled, sneered at the space pirates from where it stood several meters away from them. An enormous crimson-colored frog, over half as tall as Mikan herself, looked around with bulbous eyes on short stalks above its head that allowed them to rotate independently. Several other creatures in addition stood (or otherwise set) among these around Jack Frost and his crew.

"What...what is this?" Mikan questioned.

"They're beautiful..." breathed the Doctor.

Hotaru and Prez looked on with wide eyes while Rory looked more uncertain than scared.

"Natsume-kun!" Prez cried suddenly. "Luca-pyon!"

"Wha?" Mikan looked and saw the boys standing among the animals. Luca looked happier than she'd seen him for some time and even Natsume looked a little less depressing.

"Those creatures were hunted and captured by Jack and his crew," the Doctor said. "Now that they are freed they intend to get their revenge." He blinked as he thought of something. "Oh dear, no, Luca-kun!" he cried, rushing forward.

Rory, Mikan, Hotaru, and Prez followed him into the room, they being cautious of the dangerous-looking creatures all around.

The blue cat hissed again and looked menacingly at the pirates while the large crimson frog charged into the air and then down at the pirates with a giant leap. Landing on one of the Icites, the frog knocked it to the floor and unconscious before the creature hopped backward to safety amid the activating of ice weapons that narrowly missed injuring him. The frog looked from its more-safe position and howled a fear-inducing howl that caused Mikan and the others-excluding Luca-to cringe.

The small white wolf crept closer to the bunch, stalking until it had been seen; Mikan thought she saw him foaming at the mouth and her eyes grew a little wider. An Icite pirate cried out and the wolf leaped, avoiding two of the ice weapons. He raised his mouth as though to howl but instead of noise coming forth it was snow! It ejected from his mouth in a surprising amount for his size and covered several of the Icite crewmen and some hitting Jack himself. The wolf also leaped for cover but one Icite who had not been layered with the snow had aimed carefully and connected with one of the wolf's hind legs, crippling it. The small wolf landed awkwardly with only three legs and rolled onto its side with a whimper as some of the Icites covered with the snow started to shout angrily.

"The snow has a numbing effect," the Doctor commented, having briefly stopped to watch the assault. "They won't be feeling anything where that snow hit for a while."

"Will it paralyze them?" Rory asked.

"No," the Doctor answered. "It will merely affect what they can feel. Nothing especially terrible, but it can feel quite frightening when one cannot feel that much of himself."

Rory, Mikan, and Prez turned wordlessly to the Doctor, wondering if he spoke from experience.

The tiny brown winged-monkey squeaked overhead as below it the glowing orange bear stepped forward.

"It's eyes look like fire," Mikan remarked softly.

"Oh," responded the Doctor, "they are fire!"

As the bear moved forward two lines of bright light shot streaming from its eyes and landed on the inner sides of Jack Frost's shoulders. Steam began to rise from the spots as the pirate leader looked down, eyes large, and let loose a yell.

"Laser eyes?" Hotaru asked as Mikan gasped.

"You bet!" the Doctor grinned.

The orange bear took another step forward and opened its mouth again, revealing the three blackened fangs.

"Oh, no!" cried the Doctor, again running toward Luca. "Luca-kun!"

Luca looked up, not thrilled at being disturbed by non-animals. The small wolf noticed and lurched forward, mouth starting to foam again, while the brown streak of winged-monkey saw the newcomer and dove with a new purpose in its eyes.

"No!" exclaimed Luca. "Don't hurt him! He's my friend!"

The animals paused, but then they seemed to accept Luca's words and turned away.

The Doctor reached the blond boy and started speaking; Mikan decided to go over to them and moved to do so.

"You can't let them kill Jack," the Doctor was saying.

"And why not?" Luca asked icily.

"We can stop him from trying to destroy Earth," the Doctor answered. "There's no need to kill-"

"He hurt these animals!" Luca retorted. "He froze them here in blocks of ice to be here forever as his bragging rights! He didn't even have the decency to let them die!"

"I understand," the Doctor said quietly. "But it is not something deserving death. Would it not be better for him to live in a dark, smelly, uncomfortable prison where he can think about his actions and possibly realize his error?"

Luca hesitated, glancing at the animals surrounding Jack and some of his crew. Luca turned to Natsume, who watched with eyes that Mikan couldn't read-per usual. Luca turned his head back to the Doctor, his blond hair swaying with the centrifugal force.

"Okay," said he finally. He glanced up. "Will he go to prison?"

The Doctor smiled. "I think I can arrange that."

The glowing orange bear raised itself to a new height, seeming more menacing than it already had before. Several weapons went off but they seemed to have no effect.

"Luca-kun!" spoke the Doctor. "You have to stop it!"

The bear moved forward, almost to Jack, and opened its mouth wide.

"Stop!" Luca commanded. That gave the bear pause. "Don't kill him!" The boy continued. "He will be punished, but let him live for now!"

The bear backed off a step and glanced back at Luca with disappointment like a boy who had looked with pleasure upon a foolhardy road of action but was called off from it by a father.

The Doctor walked forward. "Jack Frost." The pirate met his gaze sullenly. "Your tractor beam is in pieces and therefore you have no way to enact your horrible plot. Furthermore, you have been captured by this...bunch," the Doctor gestured around, "and they could easily have killed you, and could still do so."

"Fine!" snapped Jack. "I surrender! Is that what you wanted to hear!"

"Yes, it was!" the Doctor confirmed with a wide smile. "Now then, shall we escort you to your own ice cell? Do call the rest of your crew to meet us there. And tell them not to fight," the Doctor added, "because there will be ones of us there who would not count it too great a loss if you were dead."

Jack glared in response to the warning and led the way toward the door.

"Your sword!" the Doctor exclaimed, causing the gathered pirate crew to pause. The Doctor held out his hand. "May I have your sword? The rest of your crew should probably leave their weapons behind as well. It might give you a bit of an unfair advantage." He winked.

Jack did not look happy in the slightest but relinquished his sword and his crew there did likewise with their ice guns.

The Doctor, Rory, and those from Alice Academy escorted the Icites to the floor below and to the ice cell. Jack had somehow gotten word to the other Icites and there they met the group. After Rory confiscated their weapons, the whole of the pirate crew was herded into the room and ordered to unlock the bar (which had somehow again been replaced; Mikan made a note to ask the Doctor about that sometime). The crew along with Jack then entered the cell and locked it again, and upon direction then threw down what keys some of them had, lest they immediately let themselves out again. Then the Doctor, Rory, and the Alice Academy students traveled back to the control room feeling satisfied with their work.


End file.
